Facebook will not fact-check the statements politicians post to the site, the firm announced Tuesday ahead of the 2020 US elections, even as it works to discredit false information meant to manipulate public opinion.
“We don’t believe... that it’s an appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician’s speech from reaching its audience," said Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs and communications. Exclusion of politicians’ discourse has been part of Facebook’s policy for over a year, Clegg said. Worries have run high ahead of the 2020 polls following revelations of a wide-ranging misinformation campaign on Facebook and other platforms in the 2016 elections.
The social network has come under fire from critics, particularly Democrats, who believe that tech giants have become too powerful.
Facebook, meanwhile, walks a fine line in its attempts to balance freedom of expression with regulation of false content. Its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has taken steps to increase transparency, especially when it comes to political advertising.
Source: https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/facebook-won-t-fact-check-political-statements-1569426201511.html
